From the first introduction of detachable magazines on firearms, people have been looking for ways to increase magazine capacity. Whether it is drum mags, longer box mags, jungle clips to connect multiple mags together, or other gimmicks, more ammo is always the goal. Well, the German army took a rather unusual approach to this issue in 1942, when it introduced an experimental double-magazine version of the MP40.
The gun was intended for special operations troops who were judged to have a particularly pressing need for more ammo on hand to deal with ambushes and high-intensity close range firefights. The design used a completely stock MP40 and replaced the magazine housing with a redesigned one which held two magazines side by side. The pair of magazine wells was a sliding unit that could move left and right under the receiver. Once one magazine was emptied, the shooter would just press a latch on the front of the housing and slide the unit laterally and inch or so, positioning the second loaded magazine in the path of the bolt. The bolt would still have to be pulled back manually before firing, but given the use of military-style magazine pouches this was still definitely faster than reloading a standard MP40.
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One of my brothers is quite a skilled gunsmith . A young man he worked with on his full time job asked him a while back if he would take a look at " a gun " he had inherited along with some other WW II items his grandpaw had. He told me the fella pulled in the drive , he walked out to meet him , the boy jumped out and had one of these MP 40 s in his hand . Ha ! , my brother threw his hands up , told the guy " Sorry but your going to have to get out of here with that thing , I won't even touch it ".
ReplyDeleteBut if he inherited it from his grandfather, shouldn't he be able to grandfather it in being, I assume, a WWII bring back? At least I hope so. I sure would like to talk to him if he is still around.
DeleteEvidently there was quite a stash of this stuff according to the story I was told , this boy sold the helmet's to some biker's at a damn flea market . The weapon was inoperable , I believe it was said to have been missing internal part's or damaged in some way . Like I said yesterday the guy took one look at it and told him to get it the hell out of there.
DeleteThe MP-40 is full auto. It falls under the .fedgov's NFA (National Firearms Act). Inheritance makes no allowance for obtaining full auto weapons. Since everyone's beloved, alleged conservative Ronald Reagan signed the latest restriction (1986) of NFA weapons, no one can buy a new, full auto weapon. One can only buy in-country, already registered full auto wpns since Reagan screwed us (with NRA blessings) in 1986.
DeleteThere are likely 10s of thousands of GI bringback wpns sitting in attics across this land. If you can find one....GET IT and keep your mouth closed.
Guaranteed there are countless AK-47's in-country as they were sent back to the states from Vietnam broken down into parts and hidden in the large stereo systems which were popular back then. Among many other weapons I had to leave when evacuated in April '75 were a rough field recovered one and a beautiful one all chrome plated, now rusting away at the bottom of a well.
DeleteBrock:
ReplyDeleteThanks for posting this.
I've added that web site to my list of "RECOMMENDED WEB SITES" at my own personal web site, "OUR ETERNAL STRUGGLE".
You're welcome and thank you.
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